Soon, every search you’ve ever made online will not only be available to your internet service provider (ISP)- it will be available to any corporation or foreign government who wants to see your interests, peculiar as they may be.

Yesterday (March 28, 2017) via the House’s decision, ISPs can sell your entire web browsing history to literally anyone or any entity without your permission: The CRA resolution. Literally, it would take an act of Congress to enact legislation now to prevent this massive governmental overreach. The House basically repealed all prior legislation that would have prevented ISPs from marketing your private browsing history.

Why did the House make this move? You don’t benefit, the government doesn’t either, so why? So that a few Too-Big-To-Fail corporations can make a few more rubles and so that politicians – who have received millions in campaign contributions from the ISPs for decades – can continue to sell us out.

How did this happen?

The Congressional Review Act (CRA) was passed in 1996 to allow Congress to overrule regulations created by government agencies.

Prior to 2017, Congress had only successfully used the CRA once. But since the new administration took over in January, it’s been successfully used 3 times — for things like overturning environmental regulations.

“Relying on the government to protect your privacy is like asking a peeping tom to install your window blinds.” — John Perry Barlow

All that’s left is for the President to sign the resolution, which he most certainly will do.

So what kind of shady things can ISPs now legally do with our data?

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, there are at least five creepy things the FCC regulations would have made illegal. But thanks to the Senate, ISPs can now continue doing these things as much as they want, and it will probably be years before we can do anything to stop them.

Sell your browsing history to basically any corporation or government that wants to buy it

Hijack your searches and share them with third parties

Monitor all your traffic by injecting their own malware-filled ads into the websites you visit

Pre-install software on phones that will monitor all traffic — even HTTPS traffic — before it gets encrypted. AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile have already done this with some Android phones.

We will be updating this article as our research on wrap-around solutions is completed. In the meantime, contact your Senator and Congressional representative and tell them, “Hell, no – they have no need to know!”

Who. What.

For the trial law and legal community from a private investigator's perspective.
The Beacon Bulletin is the weekly newsletter authored and published by our parent company, Beacon Network Investigations, LLC (BNI).
We're a private investigation company. We DON'T dispense legal advice, respond to anonymous queries or black hat your enemies for you. (Internally, however, points are alloted to our favorite subtly phrased compliments.)
We DO hope to inform. That's our business.